historical record of the white house christmas tree ceremony. >> lots more goodies on the website - new, videos, blogs. click on aljazeera.com. >> forget about the mall, what about shopping for tech shops. and go digital or go home. it's down to the wire for small theater owners who are still relying on old film projectors. i'll take to you the movies in maine. i'm ali velshi. this is "real money." ♪ >> this is "real money." you are the most important part of the show, so join our live conversation for the next half

hour on twitter at aj real money. legend has it today is called black friday because it's the day retailer he's balance sheets went from being in the red, unprofitable, to being in the plaque, profitable. but this year's black friday came a day early with big reta retailers all opening their doors to shoppers on thanksgiving thursday itself. while an estimated 15,000 shoppers lined up outside of macy's flagship store to start shopping at 8:00 p.m. thursday night retailers registered 10 million in store transsanctions between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on thanksgiving thursday, and 400 million page views for shoppers looking for

deals on its website. but today america's smalls are malls are choked with holiday shoppers just as they have been in past years. going to a mall on long island, i see people all around you. >> reporter: well, things are well started to fill up here at the mall. there is a healthy crowd out here, but it was a different story at 5:00 a.m. very few people out. that's largely due to the fact that gray thursday stole a lot of black friday's thunder. many stores were open at request a.m. on thanksgiving, and the hardcore deal hunters were out in force. and sears there were 500 people lined up to take advantage of those deals. things started to taper off until 2:00 a.m. and then would pick up again at 11:00 a.m.

when i look behind me and look at the shoppers, i don't see people endowed with tons and tons of bags. definitely a cautious atmosphere. people looking for the best deals and wage wages are stagnan the united states. but for those shoppers who come armed with smart phones and tablets there is an array of apps to help them target the very best deals. let your smart phone be your guide. shoppers may be browse center stores but they're using apps to find the best deals. >> there is going to be an enormous surge in the role that apps play . >> ecommerce sells this season will hit $80 billion and a lot of that will be done on smart

phones and tablets. >> app developers are figuring out how to create shopping experiences that are on par and in a lot of cases better than what you get in the store. there is an opportunity to learn more about the product, watch demo videos, what it does and how it works. >> reporter: survey shows smart phone owners have three or four shopping apps. nearly half of black friday purchases will be made on mobile devices. >> we've dean great growth, we've seen double digit growth over the last ten years. >> reporter: the consumer reports that just came out say 56% of americans don't want to set food i in a store during this shopping gleeked you've been there for many hours today. have you been talking to people? is there something obvious that they're buying or an obvious deal that they're getting?

>> this is one of the most interesting things, ali. people are buying for themselves. they're taking advantage of these holiday bargains to stock up on their essentials. that's probably one of the most telling trend about how squeezed the consumer is feel holiday season . >> patricia, i hope you get to do some shopping for yourself. patricia in long island. what has been your best purchase. pos most of you who responded decided against shopping. peace of mind staying at home. maybe because all of you shoppers are too busy to be tweeting me or going to facebo facebook some stores are having an easier

time on sealing deals than others on what has traditionally been the beginning shopping day of the year. scoping out the sales and the fails since shops opened their doors last night. brian is a ceo at bellis capital advisers. he joins us from bay shore. thank you for joining us again. >> good to be back. >> i was amazed by macy's numbers. lined up outside of their doors on thanksgiving day. tell me what you're seeing. who is doing this well? >> as you pull out. macy's is doing well. their home department is winning, why? because jc penny's home department is losing. by and large outside of macy's i'm seeing

cerebral shoppers. they have their circulars. they are an in, they're out, buying basic storm busters, then heading home to eat the rest of their turkey . >> patricia felt there were a lot of people shopping for themselves, but there seems to be some expectation that deals are going to get keep beer and the sales are going to be bett better. with some last of enthusiasm today. >> patricia is right on the mark. what are they buying? basic apparel happen t-shirts. that's it. they're not going out and buy agnew coach handbag or something from lucy louis vuitton. you'll see discounts go up even

more. the discounts were not that reboughrebust by any stretch ofe imagination. >> you and very discussed this is a bifurcated economy. you have low-income earners who are doing their basic shopping. they're not looking for deals on items like the coach handbags. tell me how that is playing out. >> walmart sales has been negative for three straight quarters. wages, stagnant, unemployment very, very high. that walmart , target customer, they need higher discounts and more promotions. the they try to get people in the store to think about a purchase

and then bring them back when they get 60% off. >> i'll keep my eye on the discounts and then come back. i always depend on you for great information. all right, one group is using black friday to draw attention to walmart, our walmart showered the stage protests across the country. we spoke with some of those protesters, and they are in chicago right now. andy, tell me what you found when you talked to them. >> reporter: well, the protesters showed up at 9:30 this morning, about 100 of them. they marched in front of walmart, and ten went out to the street of walmart and refused to lead. this was not a violent protest, the protesters say it's ridiculous that a company that makes $16 billion a year would

pay its workers around minimum wage. they're demanding better wages. they're claim they have been retaliated to do when they try to to go on a strike. >> now you found that a number of protesters were not walmart employees. >> reporter: right, most of them were not walmart employees. there were members from unions, pastors and community groups. the walmart spokesperson said that the protesters don't reflect what is going on at walmart. protesters say they're trying to prevent other companies and the country from following walmart precedence.

she said that they hire from within, bonuses, discounts at the store. but what she tried to hammer only is that walmart brings a lot of promotion from the ranks. >> andy i would love to talk to you more, but there is a very loud talk barking around you. andy rosen. very good to see you . the swedish clothing planned h & m will be removing sweaters made from angora fur after reports that rabbits were abused. they plan to investigate their suppliers. peta approached other companies,

including u.s. labels. call it.com deja vu. with tech stock on a terror. and a small town underdog takes on giant in a fight for survival. what was a movie is the real life saga of a family-owned movie theater. >> from our headquarters in new york, here are the headlines this hour. >> al jazeera america is the only news channel that brings you live news at the top of every hour. >> a deal in the senate may be at hand and just in the nick of time. >> thousands of new yorkers are marching in solidarity. >> we're following multiple developments on syria at this hour. >> every hour from reporters stationed around the world and across the country. >> only on al jazeera america. an america tonight special report.

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s&p i can di s&p indices. the dow is up 219%. if you put a thousand dollars in right now it would be worth $3,591. but take a look at these individual stocks which is seeing bigger returns alone. micron technology. this makes semi conductor devices. netflix up to 259% for the year . internet stocks have fared pretty well in general this year. yelp is up 224%. linkedin up 95% and facebook which got off to a bad start when it's start price dipped below, it inked out a 76% gain this year.

despite big stock price gains it's been a mixed picture when it comes to balance sheets. facebook is seeing earnings go up as it takes advantage of mobile ads. yelp has never turned a profit, and with the nasdaq only 1,000 points shy of an all time high, the question for many should be could tech be headed to another bust. now eric, thank you for being with us. >> hey, ali. >> the main question on people's minds, are we up in frothy territory. is this dangerous to be in tech stocks right now? >> i don't think so. i think we have years left of legs in this particular rally. i think taking a step back. you said it off the top, 2008 was a huge financial shock.

and it's not just going to be the run of the mill type of rebound after that. it's going to take years and years, we're slowly healing. we're slowly recovering. as a result stocks and in particular tech stocks i think are still attractive over the next three years. >> let's talk about some of those names that i just mentioned. some of those big gainers. those that are constantly in the news. the netflixs, the yelps, link. twitter's ipo. what do you like there? what has more room to run? >> the common thread for why they've done is really mobile. the world has changed dramatically. even since three years ago in that pcs and computers are now just a secondary device. our primary device is our mobile smart phone. and so people need that and the companies that have done the best i think are the one that is

have recognized that's where the puck is going and skating that reality, offering the services that people want in this new mobile world. >> most of the stocks that have had that kind of run have tended to be internet stocks. list, micron, tesla, are there things that are not internet that you think has potential? >> i'm a big fan of solar right now . solar is an area that got really hard before the crash in 2008, that was overhyped, that we would turn away from fossil fuel and turn to solar. it's coming back from the dead. i think there are some promising signs that not just consumers but large scale utilities are

now seeing that as one of several different options that they need to look at for energy going forward. >> you know, we saw in the united states a real problem over a year ago when it's united states had been involved in backing a solar company. what they learned was china is such a big government backer of solar companies that independent and private companies really want compete. how do they do that when china setting out to own the world of solar energy capture. >> even though it might have seen in a the that the u.s. wassed a a disadvantage, the industry was left with a glut over there. some of the strongest companies in the states right now are americans companies like first solar, solar city. there is a canadian company by the name of canadian solar.

and they've taken a vertical approach to the industry and are the strongest in the industry despite what china is doing with their companies. >> thank you for joining us from toronto. bitcoin has broken another barrier. it's over $1,000 for the first time. tonight the virtual currency cleared $1,200. it's been fueled by a senate hearing last week. some say that the hearing lent bit coin more legitimacy. we have this, bit coin black friday, a web mark place that only accepted bit coins how about this, you can use bit coin to buy bacon flavored lollipops we'll take to you the movies in a small theater in maine.

he had to pay big bucks to switch over its equipment, but >> every sunday night, al jazeera america presents... gripping films from the world's top documentary directors. >> this is just the beginning of something much bigger. >> next sunday: do the math. >> these companies are a rogue force. >> one environmentalist says fossil fuels equal disaster. will his movement add up to change? >> we will fight it together. >> al jazeera america presents: do the math. determining using some sort of subjective interpretation of their policy as to whether or not your particular report was actually abusive, because if it doesn't contain language that specifically threatens you directly or is targeted towards you specifically, they may not consider it abuse. they may consider it offensive.

and in that case they just recommend that you block that person. >> i don't want to minimise this, because i mean, there's some really horrible things that are on line, and it's not - it's not just twitter, what has happened through social media and the anonymity of the net is that you see websites, hate-filled websites targetting all sorts of groups, popping up. there has been a huge number of those that exist as well. [[voiceover]] no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives

the stream is uniquely interactive television. in fact, we depend on you, your ideas, your concerns. >> all these folks are making a whole lot of money. >> you are one of the voices of this show. >> i think you've offended everyone with that kathy.

>> hold on, there's some room to offend people, i'm here. >> we have a right to know what's in our food and monsanto do not have the right to hide it from us. >> so join the conversation and make it your own. >> watch the stream. >> and join the conversation online @ajamstream. >> america's small movie theater owners have had to fight hard to survive. first it was competition from the mega plexes. and then internet took bites out from everyone. now the clocks are winding down to go digit. most have done it. 85% of theaters have made the switch but some are stuck in the analog past and are struggling

to manufacture forward in the 21st century. michael needed a loan to finance the theater projector for belfast, maine. now he is considering a kick start for his other theater near the border. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> why is the situation different for you? is it because you're small town theaters at lower volume. 80% of theaters made the transition. they knew they had to over time. what is the difference with the smaller theaters. >> the smaller theaters didn't benefit from the credits that film companies provided because there were savings switching from 35-millimeter to digital. so we're the sort of like the

last two people on the titanic as it goes down waiting as we go into the waters, and paramount just announced that at christmas that will be their last 35-millimeter film. so we really are at the end 35-millimeter, now we have to-- >> let me get this, then. the movie houses, the production houses send out some 35-millimeter. and you're on that list of people. >> very few. >> you get them out at the same time that other theaters get the digital releases? >> yeah, but very few and less and less. so for instance, "gravity" in in the east coast theres were 700 prints of "gravity" on digital, only 10 or so on 35-millimeter. >> what happens to you if you can't raise the money to change your other theater over? >> well, you're be out of

business because all the movies--i would say by next summer there will be no 35-millimeter film. that just means if you want to be in the movie business and we do, we need to figure out how to raise those funds for that equipment. the equipment is often more expensive than the theaters were when we purchased them. >> yeah, i noticed you paid for the one you're in $160,000. is that the going rate? is that for a piece of equipment or is there retrofitting involved? >> no, we're lucky. it would sell for much more today. there's no going rate because there are theaters in bigger towns, and they're all different rates. but they're all facing this conversion, and they're all having to get there, and while there is a few that are closing,

i think once we all get it done, it's great technology. the picture looks great. the sound is great. it just doesn't have the problems that the beloved 35 had, and it's expensive, but we're going to get there. >> i hope you do, and we'll follow that kick starter campaign of yours very closely, and we'll glad you were able to transfer the other theater over. michael hurley the owner of the colonial theater. thank you for join us. >> don't forget our question for the day. what is your best black friday purchase? tweet me or leave a comment on our facebook page. if you want to see more about tonight's stories, log on to our website at www.aljazeera.co www.aljazeera.com/real money. my final thoughts, sony just filed a patent for a smart wig. but the wig on your head and it monitors your blood pressure, and brain waves, and they think

it could help blind people navigate their neighborhoods without assistance. plus they think it will have the added perk of being hooked up to wi-fi and youtube, not only will it monitor your health but you can listen to pandora and pick up your phone calls with it. this is just the patent. they're in the beginning phases of development. sony is in lock step with many companies developing devices not only to monitor health but empower patients to self diagnose, keep them out of the doctor's office and help them in the health costs in the process. devices that could help change the face of healthcare for all of us. as for the smart wig, i love the idea, especially if they develop a line for smart toupees. winners and loser in the retail sales.

are >> hello and welcome to al jazeera america. i'm morgan radford live from new york city. in a few short hours the obama administration is expected to announce it has met its deadline to repair healthcare.gov. the guide was to allow 50,000 users to use the site at once. a spokesperson says the website needs more work. >> north korea confirms it's holding 85-year-old veteran merrill newman. they claim they violated north korea's dignity. he reportedly